Apparatus for manufacturing flexible image transfer bundles

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for manufacturing a flexible image transfer bundle comprising a holding groove for holding a plurality of foilshaped strips to be stacked, a pushing rod for press wiping the upper surface of the foil-shaped strips, and means for effecting the press wiping operation of the pushing rod independent of a desired thickness of the stacked foils. The apparatus may be automated and can manufacture the bundles in mass production scale.

Unite States Patent 11 1 Hashimoto 1451 Oct. 15,1974

I APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING FLEXIBLE IMAGE TRANSFER BUNDLES [75] Inventor: Nobuyoshi Iilashimoto, Hachioji,

Japan [73] Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Limited,

Tokyo, Japan {22] Filed: Oct. 3, I973 21 Appl. NO; 403,210

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct 9, 1972 Japan 47-101404 52} us. c1. 29/303 P [51] Int. Cl. H05k 13/06 [58] Field of Search 29/203 P, 203 D, 203 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,769,70l 11/1973 Kloth 1. 29/203 P Primary ExaminerThomas H. Eager Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen [5 7] ABSTRACT An apparatus for manufacturing a flexible image transfer bundle comprising a holding groove for holding a plurality of foil-shaped strips to be stacked, a pushing rod for press wiping the upper surface of the foil-shaped strips, and means for effecting the press wiping operation of the pushing rod independent of a desired thickness of the stacked foils. The apparatus may be automated and can manufacture the bundles in mass production scale.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING FLEXIBLE IMAGE TRANSFER BUNDLES This invention relates to apparatus for manufacturing flexible image transfer bundles, and more particularly to an apparatus for manufacturing a flexible image transfer bundle by stacking a plurality of foil-shaped strips, each of which is comprised of a plurality of thin fibers closely aligned side-by-side in one plane, and adhered together at its one limited portion (hereinafter abbreviated as a foil), and which is used for fiberscopes.

Heretofore, it has been proposed a method of manufacturing the above mentioned flexible image transfer bundle comprising the steps of winding a series of continuous thread-like light conducting fibers each having a diameter of several microns to several hundreds microns and made of a glass fiber having a high refractive index and coated with a glass layer having a low refractive index upon a drum one upon the other throughout a limited portion at which fibers are adhered together in one plane normal'to the rotary axis of the drum to form a foil, stacking a plurality of these foils one upon the other at their adhered limited portions in superimposed aligned relation to form an annular bundle, and cutting the aligned stacked portion of this annular bundle in a direction normal to the direction of fibers to form a flexible image transfer bundle. The flexible image transfer bundle thus obtained provides lightaccepting and light-emitting areas at the opposite ends thereof and is capable of transmitting image forming light from one end to another end.

However, it has been the common practice to manually perform the above described stacking operation. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 use is made of a block b having a groove a which is substantially equal in width to the aligned portion of the foil. Into the groove a of this block b is inserted the aligned portion c of the foil and then this aligned portion is coated with an adhesive agent. Subsequently, an aligned portion c of the next foil to be stacked is inserted into the groove a and these aligned portions and c are stacked one upon the other. Then, the rounded end of a pushing rod d is urged against the upper surface of the aligned portion c' under a suitable pressure and reciprocated along the groove a several times at a suitable speed. The above described press wiping operations are repeated, for example, 50 to 100 times until a bundle having a desired thickness is obtained. In FIG. 1 is shown a section of the bundle obtained in which four foils are stacked one upon the other.

In case of manually stacking the foils, whether or not each fiber f of the overlying foil is located intermediate between two adjacent fibers of the underlying foil and comes into contact with them as shown in FIG. 1, that is, whether or not a regular stacking is performed is determined by an operators feeling affected to him when he reciprocates the pushing rod d under pressure along the upper surface of the aligned portion c of the stacked foils. Thus, a manual adjustment must be made such that each fiber of the overlying foil is located intermediate between two adjacent fibers of the underlying foil and comes into contact with them as shown in FIG. 1.

In the above described manual stacking operation, however, the press wiping operation must be effected under a suitable pressure and speed in a uniform manner, thereby requiring considerable skill and constant attention. In addition, a number of repeating operations result in the operators excessive fatigue which prevents the desired regular stacking aslshown in FIG. 1. As seen from the above, the prior art manual stacking operation requiresa considerable skill and a number of operating steps and hence provides a material increase in image transfer bundles of inferior quality, and as a result, fiberscopes become expensive.

An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which can obviate the above described various disadvantage of the prior art apparatus and which can automatically manufacture a flexible image transfer bundle in mass production scale.

A feature of the invention is the provision of an apparatus for manufacturing a flexible image transfer bundle comprising a holding groove for holding a plurality of foil-shaped strips to be stacked, a pushing rod having a lower rounded end adapted to be urged against the upper surface of the foil-shaped strips held in the holding groove and movable in the holding groove, a raising and lowering means for moving the pushing rod between a holdingposition where the lower rounded end of the pushingrod is held in the holding groove and separated from the upper surface of the foil-shaped strips held in the holding groove and a raised position where the lower rounded end of the pushing rod is located out of the holding groove, and means for, holding in succession the pushing rod at the holding position and then at a position where the lower rounded end of the pushing rod upon release thereof is urged against the upper surface of the foil-shaped strips held in the holding groove for given periods of time and forwardly moving the pushing rod along the holding groove when it is urged against the upper surface of the foil-shaped strip under a constant pressure and rearwardly moving the pushingrod along the holding groove when it is The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an enlarged section showing four foils stacked in a manner such thateach fiber of the overlying foil is located intermediatebetween two adjacent fibers of the underlying foil and cones into contact with them;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating prior art apparatus for manually manufacturing a flexible image transfer bundle; l

FIG. 3 is aperspeetive view of the apparatus for automatically manufacturing a flexible image transfer bundle according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a section on a line normal to the. guide groove shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a section on a line along the center of the guide groove shown-in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a foil to be stacked by the apparatus according to the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, a hollow guide block 1 is secured to a fixed base 2. The hollow block 1 is provided at its upper surface with a guide groove 3 and is open at each side. A holding block 6 provided at its upper surface with a holding groove 5 which corresponds in width to foils to be stacked is detachably inserted fromthe side opening into the guide block 1 and secured to the inside wall of the guide block 1 by means of screws 7 so as to bring the center line of the holding groove 5 into coincidence with the center line of the guide groove 3.

In order to press wipe the upper surface of the stacked foils held by the holding groove 5 of the holding block 6 and locate each fiber of the overlying foil between two adjacent fibers of the underlying foil and make it in contact with them, provision is made of a pushing rod 8 corresponding in width to the holding groove 5 and having a lower rounded end. This pushing rod 8 is provided with an enlarged portion 9 corresponding in width to the guide groove 3, a flange 10located at the upper end of the enlarged portion 9, and a supporting rod -11 extending upwardly from the flange 10.

Provision is made of at raising and lowering means for moving the pushing rod 8 between a holding position where the lower rounded end of the pushing rod 8 is held in the holding groove 5 and separated from the upper surface of the foil 30 held in the holding groove 5 by a given distance and a raised position where the lower rounded end of the pushing rod 8 is out of the guide block 1.

This raising and lowering means for the pushing rod 8 is comprised of an arm 13 whose one end 13a is secured to a rack 14-which can move in a vertical direction. For this purpose, a pinion (not shown) driven by a reversible motor 15 is threadedly engaged with the rack 14 such that normal and reverse stations of the motor 15 for predetermined periods of time, respectively, result in raising and lowering of the arm 13 for a given distance. Another end of the arm 13 extends in parallel with the guide groove 3 of the guide block 1 and with the holding groove 5 and is provided at its free end with a slot 16 which is made coincident with the guide groove 3 when the arm 13 is located at a position directly above the outer block 1. To the free end 13b of the arm 13 is secured an end cylinder 17 which is comprised of a casing 18 in which is enclosed a plunger 19 movable in a vertical direction. A spring 20 is enclosed in the casing 18 and urged against the upper end of the plunger 19 to downwardly move it. The plunger 19 is provided at its lower end with a bracket 21 to which is secured a rubber pad 22. Between the rubber pad 22 and a pad 23 secured to the stepped portion of the outerblock 6 is clamped a portion of a bundle 36 which is thus prevented from being displaced in the holding groove 5 during the press wiping operation.

The free end 13b of the arm 13 is substantially aligned with the end face 1a of the guide block 1 and the end face 18a of the casing 18 of the semi-cylindrical member 17 secured to the free end 13b is made flat. This flat end face 18a serves to correctly guide the raising and lowering movement of the arm 13 in cooperation with the end face 1a of the outer'block 1.

The supporting rod 11 extending upwardly from the flange 10 of the pushingv rod 8 is slidably extended through a vertical bore26 of a carriage 25. A cylindrical weight 27 is slidably engaged around the supporting rod 11 within the vertical bore 26. Between the upper end of the cylindrical weight 27 and an adjustable screw 29 closing the upper end opening of the bore 26 is inserted a spring 28 which causes the lower end of the cylindrical weight 27 to project downwardly out of the lower end opening of the bore 26, thereby urging the lower end of the cylindrical weight 27 against the flange 10. As a result, the spring 28 causes the adjustable spring force and'the cylindrical weight 27 to act upon the pushing rod 8.

As described in the foregoing, according to the present invention, the spring force acting upon the pushing rod 8, the weight of the cylindrical weight 27, and the weight of the pushing rod 8 (inclusive of the enlarged portion 9, flange l0 and supporting rod 11) are utilized as the pressure for lowering the pushing rod 8 and urging its lower rounded end against the upper surface of the stacked foil 36, thereby producing a desired wiping pressure. For this purpose, with the apparatus of the invention, provision is made of a supporting plate 31 extending in parallel with the outer groove 3 of the outer block 1. On the supporting plate 31 is mounted a slidable piece 33 provided at its each side with a wheel 32. The upper end of the supporting rod 11 is freely extended through a groove 34 formed in the supporting plate 31 and through the slidable piece 33. To the upper end of the supporting rod 11 is secured a flanged stop 35 whose position is suitably selected such that a desired thickness of the stacked foil 36 is obtained. When the supporting plate 31 is held at its raised position by means of a cam means to be described later and its arm 13 becomes lowered, the supporting rod 11 becomes lowered and the stop 35 comes into contact with the upper surface of the slidable piece 33. Thus, the pushing rod 8 is held at a position where its lower rounded end is located within the holding groove 5 and slightly higher than the desired thickness of the stacked foil 36. The stop 35 may adjustably be mounted on the supporting rod 11 such that the stop 35 may be displaced in the lengthwise direction of the supporting rod 11.

The supporting plate 31 is secured to the free end of one of two arms 39 of a forked lever pivoted at a pin 42 to a movable frame (not shown). The other arm 40 is provided at its free end with a cam follower roller 41. A cam disc43 provided at its periphery with cam controlling surfaces a and b each'different in diameter and extending over and cooperating with the cam follower roller 41. The cam disc 43 is connected to a motor shaft (not shown) so as to be driven by a motor 44.'To the motor shaft is coaxially secured another cam disc 45 provided with an eccentric pin 46. To the eccentric pin 46 is connected through a connecting rod 47 to oneend of an operating rod 48. The operating rod 48 is comprised of a rack 49 threadedly engaged with a pinion 50 whose shaft 51 is connected through another pinion (not shown ,to a rack 52 to which is secured the carriage 25. y r

The above mentioned measures make it possible not only to maintain the pushing rod 8 at a holding position within the holding groove 5 and slightly separated from the upper surface of the stacked foil 36 for a given period of time on the one hand and at a press wiping position where the lower rounded end of the pushing rod 8 is urged against the upper surface of the stacked foil 36 held in theholding groove 5 by a pressure determined by the weight of the pushing rod 8, the weight of the cylindrical weight 27 and the resilient force of thespring 29 when the pushing rod 8 is released for a given period of time on the other hand, but also to move rearwardly the pushing rod 8 when it is maintained above the foil 36 and move forwardly the pushing rod 8 when it is urged against the upper surface of the packed foil 36 so as to effect the press wiping operation.

The racks 14, 52, motors 15, 44 and operating bar 48 may be mounted on the above described movable frame (not shown) for supporting the pivot pin 42 and the movable frame together with these parts may be moved with respect to the stationary guide block 1 so as to align the pushing rod 8 with the guide groove 3.

The apparatus constructed as described above according to the invention will operate as follows.

At first, the parallel aligned portion of the foil 30 shown in FIG. 6 is inserted through the guide groove 3 into the holding groove 5. Then, the parallel aligned portion of the foil 30 held in the holding groove 5 is coated with an adhesive agent. On the foil 30 is disposed another foil and then the movable frame is moved forwardly until it arrives at the position shown in FIG. 3. Then, the motor is started to descend the arm 13, and as a result, the pushing rod 8 is maintained at the position above the foil 30 where the pushing rod 8 is subjected to the desired downwardly pushing force and one end of the foil 30 is clamped by the rubber pad 22.

Then, the motor 44 is rotated by one revolution to rotate the cam 43 and the disc 45 is synchronism. As the cam 43 rotates, the cam follower roller 41 is descended from the cam controlling surface a to the cam controlling surface 22 to rotate downwardly the rotary lever 39. As a result, the supporting plate 31 becomes lowered to move the supporting rod 11 and hence release the pushing rod 8. Then, the downwardly pushing force given by the supporting rod 11, spring 26 and weight 27 causes the pushing rod 8 to descend-Thus, the lower rounded end of the pushing rod 8 is urged against the upper surface of the foil 30. At the same time, the disc 45 causes the operating bar 48 to move to the right seen in FIG. 3. The movement of the operating bar 48 is transmitted through the rack 49, pinion 50, shaft 51, pinion (not shown) and rack 52 to the carriage 25 to cause it to move to the right. As a result, the lower rounded end of the pushing rod 8 is guided by the guide groove 3 to wipe under pressure the foil 30 by the resultant pressure of the resilient force of the spring 28, weight 27 and the weight of the pushing rod 8.

If the cam 43 and disc 45 are rotated by one half revolution and the pushing rod 8 arrives at the right end of the guide groove 3, the cam follower roller 41 rides on the controlling surface a to raise the sliding block 33 and hence the pushing rod 8 is raised to its holding position. The one half revolution of the disc 45 causes the operating rod 48 to move to the left in FIG. 3 without press wiping the foil 30.

After one revolution of the motor 44 has been completed, the motor 15 is again started to raise the arm 13 toward the position shown in FIG. 3 and hence the pushing rod 8 is located at its raised position. Subsequently, the movable frame is rearwardly moved to complete one press wiping operation. The above mentioned press wiping operations are repeated until a bundle 36 having a desired thickness as shown in FIG. 5 is obtained. The stacked portions thus superimposed are heated and secured together into one integral body. Then, these portions are cut in a direction normal to the direction of the fibers to form a flexible image transfer bundle having ends in which each overlying fiber lies intermediate between two underlying fibers and is in contact with these fibers as shown in FIG. 1.

The flexible image transfer bundle thus obtained is capable of transferring optical images with a high degree of resolution.

As described in the foregoing, the invention can eliminate a difficult problem of requiring a skill and increasing fatigue which has been encountered with prior art apparatus. The invention has the advantage that the operation of at least two apparatuses requires the attendance of only one operator so as to improve the operating efficiency, and that an image transfer bundle using extremely thin optical fibers which. has heretofore been unable to be used can be manufactured with a high degree of resolution.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for manufacturing a flexible image transfer bundle comprising a guide groove formed in a guide block, a holding groove formed in a holding block detachably inserted into said guide block and holding a plurality of foil-shaped strips to be stacked, a pushing rod having a lower rounded end adapted to be urged against the upper surface of said foil-shaped strips held in said holding groove and movable in said holding groove, a raising and lowering means for moving said pushing rod between a holding position where the lower rounded end of said pushing rod is held in said holding groove and separated. from the upper surface of said foil-shaped strips held in said holding groove and a raised position where the lower rounded end of said pushing rod is located out of said guide groove, and means for holding in succession said push ing rod at said holding position and then at a press wiping position where the lower rounded end of said pushing rod upon released is urged against the upper surface of said foil-shaped strips held in said holding groove for given periods of time and forwardly moving said pushing rod along said holding groove when it is urged against the upper surface of said foil-shaped strip under a constant pressure and rearwardly moving said pushing rod along said holding groove when it is held at said holding position independent of the thickness of said foil-shaped strips held in the holding groove.

2. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pushing rod is comprised of an enlarged portion corresponding in width to said guide groove, a flange located at the upper endof said enlarged portion, and a supporting rod extending upwardly from said flange.

3. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said raising and lowering means is comprised of an arm whose one end is secured to a rack driven by a reversible motor and another end extends in parallel with said holding groove and is provided at its free end with a slot extended through by said pushing rod and with an end cylinder aligned with the end face of said guide block.

4. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 3, wherein said end cylinder is comprised of a casing enclosing a plunger urged through a rubber pad against a portion of bundle held in said holding groove.

5. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for holding in succession said pushing rod at said holding position and press wiping position and forwardly and rearwardly moving said pushing rod is comprised of a cam means including a cam disc having controlling surholding said pushing rod at said press wiping position includes a weight detachably mounted around said pushing rod and disposed on a flange secured to said pushing rod and a spring interposed between said weight and an adjustable screw closing the upper end opening of a bore of said carriage. 

1. An apparatus for manufacturing a flexible image transfer bundle comprising a guide groove formed in a guide block, a holding groove formed in a holding block detachably inserted into said guide block and holding a plurality of foil-shaped strips to be stacked, a pushing rod having a lower rounded end adapted to be urged against the upper surface of said foil-shaped strips held in said holding groove and movable in said holding groove, a raising and lowering means for moving said pushing rod between a holding position where the lower rounded end of said pushing rod is held in said holding groove and separated from the upper surface of said foil-shaped strips held in said holding groove and a raised position where the lower rounded end of said pushing rod is located out of said guide groove, and means for holding in succession said pushing rod at said holding position and then at a press wiping position where the lower rounded end of said pushing rod upon released is urged against the upper surface of said foil-shaped strips held in said holding groove for given periods of time and forwardly moving said pushing rod along said holding groove wheN it is urged against the upper surface of said foil-shaped strip under a constant pressure and rearwardly moving said pushing rod along said holding groove when it is held at said holding position independent of the thickness of said foilshaped strips held in the holding groove.
 2. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pushing rod is comprised of an enlarged portion corresponding in width to said guide groove, a flange located at the upper end of said enlarged portion, and a supporting rod extending upwardly from said flange.
 3. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said raising and lowering means is comprised of an arm whose one end is secured to a rack driven by a reversible motor and another end extends in parallel with said holding groove and is provided at its free end with a slot extended through by said pushing rod and with an end cylinder aligned with the end face of said guide block.
 4. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 3, wherein said end cylinder is comprised of a casing enclosing a plunger urged through a rubber pad against a portion of bundle held in said holding groove.
 5. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for holding in succession said pushing rod at said holding position and press wiping position and forwardly and rearwardly moving said pushing rod is comprised of a cam means including a cam disc having controlling surfaces each different in diameter and extending over 180* and driven by a motor shaft, a disc coaxially secured to said motor shaft and provided with an eccentric pin connected through a connecting rod, rack-pinion mechanism and carriage to said pushing rod.
 6. An apparatus for manufacturing an image transfer bundle as claimed in claim 5, wherein said means for holding said pushing rod at said press wiping position includes a weight detachably mounted around said pushing rod and disposed on a flange secured to said pushing rod and a spring interposed between said weight and an adjustable screw closing the upper end opening of a bore of said carriage. 